the effects of oral administration of morphine sulphate on foetuses of sprague-dawley rats

the deleterious effects of morphine sulphate addiction on the central nervous system are welldocumented. previous studies have shown that the passage of morphine from the placenta barrier caninfluence the normal development of embryos, such as those of humans, by specific mechanisms. so, forthe first time, for the purpose of investigating the effects of morphine sulphate on pregnant animals,three groups (control, sham and experimental) of sprague-dawley female rats were chosen and 0.1, 0.2and 0.3 mg/ml of morphine sulphate were administered orally in drinking water to each female rat (n=5-7) in four experimental groups in weeks 1, 2, 3 and 3 weeks of pregnancy. caesarean sections wereperformed at the end of the gestation period; foetuses (n=27-63) and their placentas were examinedexternally; the number of foetuses and their resorption sites were also recorded. results showed that 0.1,0.2 and 0.3 mg/ml of morphine sulphate causes significant increase in the percentage of teratogenicity(except in week 3) (p